Share this article

Lawyers acting for a German doctor who was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he took 35,000 intimate photos of patients on a secret camera are calling for his sentenced to be revised.

Lawyers acting for a German doctor who was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he took 35,000 intimate photos of patients on a secret camera are calling for his sentenced to be revised.

A state court in western Germany found the 58-year-old gynaecologist guilty of three counts of sexual abuse through misusing his position of trust and gross invasion of privacy after secretly photographing 1,400 women by hiding a camera in a draw.

But on Monday afternoon his lawyers filed for a revision of the Frankenthal state court's November 11th decision. They think that a suspended sentence would be more appropriate, as he did not show anyone the photos, nor inflicted physical pain on the women, the Süddeutsche newspaper reported.

Prosecutors pushed initially for a four-year sentence, but he received three-and-a-half, mostly for gross invasion of privacy. He also said he conducted vaginal examinations for his own sexual arousal rather than for medical reasons.

"I am ashamed," the 58-year-old doctor told the court in Frankenthal near Mannheim in Rhineland-Palatinate in September.

He spoke of a dark side to him, being unable to explain his actions over three years in any other way.